Hi all. I posted a couple weeks ago on here giving my history recently. I started having some symptoms such as upper back pain and pain in my left arm at random places like the elbow, wrist, some of the fingers. Not constant pain, doesn't even last a couple of minutes, it's more fleeting aches I would say. They come and go, sporadically. Anyways, my doctor felt my upper back and said I have trigger points, which are basically knots in the muscle that can send referred pain to different areas of the body, including the arms. He said this was caused by muscle tension I was having due to my anxiety. Anyways, it seems that my arm pain has lessened and is happening less frequently, as well as the upper back. I am taking Flexeril for it, which is a muscle relaxer. Anyways, my question is this: If the arm pain was actually related to some underlying heart issue, do you think taking Flexeril would make a difference in the arm pain? Meaning would the pill help the arm, even though it's refferred pain from the heart. I am getting relief from the Flexeril, which is making me think the muscles are relaxing in my back so the arm pains go away for awhile due to less tension. I was just wondering what anyone thought, if the arm pain was indeed cardiac related, if a muscle relaxer would take it away, or do you think the arm pain would continue?

You are correct that Flexeril is a muscle relaxer -- which would not usually relieve pain that have a cardiac etiology (i.e. ischemia). Isolated arm pain as the presenting symptoms of angina is not impossible, but is more uncommon than having traditional symptoms of chest discomfort (with or without jaw pain, nausea, shortness of breath, or sweating). Your risk factor profile also helps assist in the pre-test probability of having underlying coronary artery disease (age, history of smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, or family history of early heart disease).

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